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The openSUSE project is a worldwide effort that promotes the use of Linux everywhere. openSUSE creates one of the world's best Linux distributions, working together in an open, transparent and friendly manner as part of the worldwide Free and Open Source Software community.

The project is controlled by its community and relies on the contributions of individuals, working as testers, writers, translators, usability experts, artists and ambassadors or developers. The project embraces a wide variety of technology, people with different levels of expertise, speaking different languages and having different cultural backgrounds.

About Tumbleweed

The Tumbleweed distribution is a pure rolling release version of openSUSE containing the latest stable versions of all software instead of relying on rigid periodic release cycles. The project does this for users that want the newest, but stable software.

Tumbleweed is based on Factory, openSUSE's main development codebase. Tumbleweed is updated once Factory's bleeding edge software has been integrated, stabilized and tested. Tumbleweed contains the latest stable applications and is ready and reliable for daily use.

Who should try Tumbleweed?

Any user who wishes to have newer packages than are available in the openSUSE Leap repositories. This includes, but is not limited to, an updated Linux kernel, SAMBA, git, desktops, office applications and many other packages.

Also, Tumbleweed should appeal most to Power Users, Software Developers (who require the latest software stacks and IDEs) and openSUSE Contributors (who need a reliable platform that is as close to openSUSE Factory as possible while remaining usable).

Due to the Linux kernel being updated very frequently, users who rely on proprietary graphic drivers should not use the Tumbleweed distribution unless they are familiar with updating these drivers from source on their own. See articles NVIDIA and ATI, section "The hard way", for how to do this if you are interested. Note that the additional Packman repositories are available for Tumbleweed!

Who should use openSUSE Leap instead of Tumbleweed?

While every effort is made to build them, at this point there is no guarantee to have all additional modules available in openSUSE Leap like for Vmware or Virtualbox. And while the Packman Tumbleweed Essential repository attempts to deliver them there is no guarantee they will always succeed due to the incompatibilities with the quickly advancing Linux Kernel. The problems with proprietary graphics drivers are similar and there is no guarantee they will work tomorrow, even if they do today. If you don't know how to compile your own additional kernel modules and you don't wish to learn or keep a very close eye on what is being updated, please don't use Tumbleweed.